Rajender Prasad had taken voluntary retirement after working in the Indian army as a Hawaldar for 15 years. In 1996, posts of constables were lying vacant in the NHRC; and NHRC appointed Rajender Prasad against one such post.

The NHRC employed him on a contract basis for one year. But ten years later, on August 31, 2006, NHRC terminated his services on the ground that his appointment was out of the recruitment rules.  

Justice Kailash Gambhir pulled up the NHRC for not hearing the plea of the constable who wanted regularisation of his 10-year job.

“There has been blatant violation of the human rights of the petitioner, who after putting in about more than 10 years of service was thrown out on the ground that his appointment was out of the recruitment rules….. “Such periodical extensions on service ruins one’s entire career and at times the employee gets deprived of many opportunities maybe because of over age or other factors, which otherwise would have been available if such an employee would have been shown the exit door at the earliest possible time….

“Since the Commission failed to protect the human rights of the petitioner who will be thrown on the road to struggle again to search for a job, the same being in serious violation of his human rights, cost of Rs 100,000 is imposed for their inhuman act”.

However, while penalising NHRC, the court also blamed Rajender Prasad for not taking prompt steps for regularising his job and taking up the matter only when his services were terminated and turned down Prasad’s plea for reinstatement, stating that there were many people waiting for employment and equal opportunity should be given to all.

“No doubt it could not have been expected of a statutory body like National Human Rights Commission, who are protectors and saviours of the human rights of people to keep extending the contract of the petitioner in the face of existing recruitment rules which nowhere provide for reemployment of ex-serviceman on the said post of constable”, the judge stated.

He said the NHRC was playing an “effective role in implementation of human rights” but the “relentless human rights violation of the present petitioner by NHRC itself has gone unnoticed by it”.

National Human Rights Commission – first clean your own kennel.